He said the deputy mayor then asked a girl from an Indian family, but who was born in Britain, how long she had been in the country, Mr Phillips said.

'These are not words you expect to hear these days,' Mr Phillips said. 'It is like something from a bygone age.

'I am disgusted by it. The deputy mayor was there as an official person speaking to schoolchildren. People look up to people like that in a position of responsibility. It is completely unacceptable. He should resign.'

The 16-year-old, who attends Salesian College in Reading Road, Farnborough, was part of a Young Enterprise group with girls from Farnborough Hill School taking part in a competition against other schools.

Mr Phillips, who runs a hair-dressing business in Aldershot, said his son had been shocked at the comments.

A statement from Cllr Kimber issued by Rushmoor Borough Council said: 'I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr Phillips and his son. It was not my intention to cause offence or to upset anyone in any way.

'I am very sorry if I have done this and I have written to Mr Phillips to offer a personal apology.'

He added: 'The Rushmoor Rotary Christmas Charity Bazaar at Oak Farm School was a wonderful event and I was very proud to meet the enthusiastic young people who were taking part in the Young Enterprise competition.'

Andrew Lloyd, Rushmoor's chief executive, said he had spoken to Cllr Kimber about the incident and he was confident it would not happen again.

Mr Lloyd said he thought Cllr Kimber had possibly mistaken the teenager for a boy from a Nepalese family. Within the Nepalese community, there are distinct ethnic groupings based on where people originate from, and religious caste groups, as identified by many surnames such as Gurung, Limbu and Rai. These are sometimes referred to as 'tribes'.

However, the word 'tribe' is somewhat outdated and when used to refer to black people is considered by many to be racist and offensive, with its connotations of African tribes from Britain's colonial and slave-trading history.

'The deputy mayor was obviously very concerned to hear that he had inadvertently caused any upset to a youngster,' Mr Lloyd said.

'We all regret that any upset was caused, but it is to the credit of the deputy mayor that he immediately apologised. We have talked about it.

'Roger is a very experienced councillor and he is a very gregarious and talkative character. That is one of his greatest strengths.

'We all learn from our experiences. I have never had a complaint about him before and I am pleased he has responded to it positively.'

According to members of the Nepalese community, while many Nepalese people would not be offended by references to their 'tribes', there were better ways to refer to where a person's family originally came from in Nepal.

In Nepal, caste - essentially a strict religious class system - is still a powerful social factor and a controversial issue, even among the Nepalese community in the UK.

The term 'tribe' could cause offence if used inappropriately.

The charity event was held at Oak Farm School on Saturday last week.

The Rotary Club-organised event was also attended by more than a dozen charities which were selling stocking filler presents and raising cash from Christmas shoppers.

It raised more than £2,000 for charities throughout the area.

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Calls for deputy mayor to quit after asking a mixed race teenager: 'What tribe are you from?'